I've heard that myth also that a knife block dulls your knives. Unless your knife block is made from concrete, this shouldn't happen. A wooden knife block will not dull your knives any more than leaving them in a drawer to slide around and scrape against each other.

More importantly than the knife block is the type of cutting board you use. A glass or hard composite material cutting board will dull your knife quickly. I'd suggest the poly plastic boards. They inhibit bacterial growth better than a wooden board, are much less expensive, and treat your knives well.

If you use a knife block, the slots are often sideways so the cutting edge does not have to come in contact with the wood. If the slots are vertical, put the knives in cutting edge up rather than down.

I prefer a magnetic knife strip on the wall. It's easier to access the knives and frees up counter space.

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"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -Carl Sagan

I've heard that myth also that a knife block dulls your knives. Unless your knife block is made from concrete, this shouldn't happen. A wooden knife block will not dull your knives any more than leaving them in a drawer to slide around and scrape against each other.

More importantly than the knife block is the type of cutting board you use. A glass or hard composite material cutting board will dull your knife quickly. I'd suggest the poly plastic boards. They inhibit bacterial growth better than a wooden board, are much less expensive, and treat your knives well.

Many tests have been done to determine which type of knife blocks were most sanitary. As the evidence came in, it turns out that hard maple, end-grain cutting boards/blocks are actually more sanitary than are plastic cutting boards. The wood has natural antiseptic qualities. As the cutting boards are used, the plastic will develop many knife marks that tend to give bacteria hiding places against cleaning agents. The wooden knife block does the same, except that the wood is hostile to the bacteria were the plastic isn't.

Do a little research on Google and you will find many references to this phenomenon

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North.

__________________“No amount of success outside the home can compensate for failure within the home…"

A quick bit of research turned up the following link - Epicurean Cutting Board Store which purports to have a baord that is superior to either plastic or wood. I have no experience with it and so offer it only to show that there are many option out there. The cutting boards and other products on the site do look interesting though.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

__________________“No amount of success outside the home can compensate for failure within the home…"

I've always wanted one of those magnetic knife blocks for the wall. First I need to get some really nice knives though! I like my henkel knives (although I don't think I know how to sharpen them properly, as they get dull after a few uses on a wooden board, and they don't slice vegetables 'without effort'), but eventually I want a serious nice variation.

I have magnetic strips for my knives and I love them. The problem that I always had with knife blocks was that if they sit under the upper cabinets, they are too tall for easy insertion of knives. I tried an angled one, and thought it took up too much room on the counter. And the slots collected crumbs and dust.

__________________I just haven't been the same since that house fell on my sister.